Both of the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula 1 Team cars were looking competitive enough to make it into the final top ten qualifying shootout but unfortunately missed out by very narrow margins which was a theme for the session as a whole, with the most important places being decided by milliseconds.
Lance Stroll feels that it was a shame to miss out on Qualifying-3 by such a small margin, but looking at it from a glass half-full perspective the Canadian will get the choice of tyre which could end up to be a deciding factor at a circuit that is associated with a high level of tyre wear.
“It is a shame to have missed out on Q3 by such a tiny margin – just a few thousandths of a second. The positive is that by starting in P11, we have the flexibility to choose our start tyre and that could be crucial because I think tyre wear is going to be a very important factor in the race.”
Even though it is difficult to overtake at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya the long run down to turn one means that places can be made-up at the start and hopefully this will put Stroll in a good place to take some good points back to Silverstone.
“It is not easy to overtake here, but if we can have a good start and gain places on the long run into Turn One, we can give ourselves a good platform for points on Sunday.”
Sebastian Vettel Feels That Tyre Management Will Be Crucial In Order To Score Points
At last seasons Spanish Grand Prix Sebastian Vettel was one of few drivers to pull off the one stop strategy and in doing so was able to take 6 points back to Maranello with a seventh place finish and gaining Driver of the day for his efforts.
Sebastian Vettel feels that his crucial final lap in Qualifying-2 wasn’t his finest effort and when qualifying is so tight like it was yesterday these small margins make a huge difference in terms of starting position.
“My final lap in Q2 was not entirely clean and, when the grid is so tight, those small things can make a real difference. I think we had a good chance of reaching Q3 today, but we just found ourselves at the wrong end of the midfield group.”
Because so many teams are on a similar level in the midfield the German driver feels that it will be a tricky race but if he can manage his tyres properly who knows where he can end up?
“Because so many teams have similar pace, it will not be an easy race, but we will hang in there, push hard, and see what we can do. You never know what can happen in a long race and, if we can look after the tyres and use our race pace, we can race for some points.”
